


The Bear, the King, and the Bomb Shelter

by Belugalumps



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 17:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3819409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belugalumps/pseuds/Belugalumps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grace stumbles upon a magical world beyond the door of her bomb shelter during WWII. Is she another hero in the Narnia chronicles or just a mistake?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written as a present for my friend Grace but I figure anyone can enjoy it!
> 
> I do not own any of the Narnia franchise.

“We have to send them away, it’s not safe!”  
“We’ve been over this before...we don’t have the money and I’m not going to just leave you here in a bomb shelter all by yourself while I’m off fighting...”  
“I would be okay...”  
“It’s out of the question!”  
Grace had been staring at her novel so long her eyes began to quiver. The word ‘Merry’ that she had been fixed upon seemed seared in her memory for good. With her parents arguing so long she hadn’t even gotten past the title of ‘The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood.’  
“Michael, we should go to bed. We’re going to wake Sean, and Grace has been up all night reading one of her books. You have to leave early tomorrow.” She heard her mother give her father a quick peck, and then they both headed down the hall to her bedroom.  
“It’s time to go to bed honey,” her mother leaned over her and took the book away gingerly, “I love you.”  
Grace looked at her father in the doorway once her mother had gone. He gave her a watery smile before coming into her room to kneel before her bed. “I won’t be gone long. My officer thinks the war is almost over,” he laid a hand on her hair, “I need you to take care of your mom and brother for a little while until I’m back. Don’t forget how much I love you.”  
Grace didn’t forget. She held her hands tight to her chest, as if daring that love to slip away, as her father boarded his train the next morning. As the England winds whipped the hair from her face, she also did not forget the promise both of her parents had made just a few years prior. They had told her the move to London would only last a year. Grace had explained her father’s job offer at a pharmaceutical company all the way in Britain to her friends with a smile. She would see them soon. She would have seen them soon if her parent’s hadn’t decided to stay and become British citizens and if the war hadn’t broken out. This wasn’t the plan, her mother had cried over and over as soon as her father’s draft papers arrived in the mail. Grace had taken all the pots and pans from the kitchen and given them to Sean so he could drum. Anything to block out her mother’s sobbing.  
A few days after saying goodbye to her father, her mother heard the warnings on the radio. London was under Nazi attack. Grabbing Sean’s hand, Grace followed her mother outside and down the steps to their bomb shelter. Before she closed the door, Grace caught one last look at the smoke filled skies.  
. . .  
“I win again!”  
Sean banged his hand on the table, causing it to shudder dangerously. “You cheated!”  
“No I didn’t! I played fair and square, you just suck at cards.”  
“Mom!”  
Grace’s gaze scanned their small brick confines until falling upon her mother. She sat on the bed, her styled curls limply hanging over her face as she stared at the dusty floor. Grace shook her head silently at her crying brother.  
“I want to drum,” he said.  
“Not right now Sean.”  
“Can we play hide and go seek?”  
“The shelter is only one room,” she replied, “There’s nowhere to hide.”  
“Well then I want to leave this stupid shelter!”  
Grace did not answer but instead let the sound of distant bombing be his reply.  
Rhonda stood from the bed and wiped mascara from her cheeks. “Time for bed you two.”  
Grace let Sean climb in first then tried to make her half of the twin mattress as comfortable as she could. Her mother slept on the floor.  
Once they had both fallen asleep, Grace snuck out of bed and snatched her book off the table like a thief in the night. Using the sparse light from their kerosene lamp, she finally made progress in Robin Hood. The words offered her comfort and she found herself running her hands over the crinkled pages with affection. The silence did not yet strike her as odd. Neither did the extra glow with which to read by.  
Only when she took a pause in the novel did she notice the light streaming in a small crack in the door. Instead of warning her mother of the flaw in the shelter’s architecture, she moved towards the little flow of sunshine. She had not been outside the shelter’s four walls in over a week.  
Fear briefly causing her to falter and check the slumbering states of her family, Grace tugged on the heavy door. As it swung open, joy filled her swiftly beating heart.  
This was not England. This picturesque woodland complete with scurrying squirrels was not the war-torn city she had come to call home. Stepping outside and savoring the feeling of grass between her toes, she felt like a character in one of her many novels. It was probably a dream. She didn’t care. Closing the shelter door behind her, Grace set off in her newfound paradise.  



	2. Chapter 2

The wood held a sort of warmth Grace had never known. The leaves did not just rustle, they danced. The sun did not shine, it glowed like melting butter. The wood was full of creatures as well. After walking for a long while, Grace saw that there was a bear in her path. The innocent joy of escaping her shelter began to slip away until the bear turned and fear halted in its course. She instead felt uncertain; this bear appeared devoid of ferocity. His brown eyes were calm and his stance submissive.  
The very un-bear-like behavior barely had time to cross her mind as odd before the impossible presented itself. “Are you a daughter of Eve?”  
The bear talked. A bear was freaking talking to her like this was a somehow mundane ability. What else to do but talk back? “Excuse me?” Grace felt the dreamlike cloud evaporate beneath her.  
“You are human unless you are some sort of dwarf?”  
Grace blanched. “Dwarf? Is Snow White’s cottage just around the corner or something?”  
The bear’s deep bass carried over her sounds of disbelief. “You are neither Queen Susan nor Queen Lucy...”  
“I’m Grace.”  
“And I am Bear,” he began to scramble further into the forest, “Follow me.”  
“Wait like your name is Bear?” Grace followed, keeping Bear’s stubby tail in sight. This seemed ridiculous and her own practicality would not permit her to accept the strange terms of this new land.  
Very soon a distant tower came into view. As the trees turned into no more than shrubs skirting the path, an entire castle revealed itself. Grace knew now that she was being taken to the aforementioned queens. Her anticipation only grew as Bear stopped every few moments to whisper to another animal whose eyes would not leave her.  
It only now occurred to her, far too late, that she might be in danger.  
The great wooden doors of the castle gave way under Bear’s paw. A voice accompanied Grace’s first look inside. She studied the swirls of the marble floors as a young woman asked, “Why hello Bea...it can’t be!”  
Grace now looked up. The woman before her was in her early 20’s but her sophisticated bun and dark eyes showed maturity.  
Bear bowed, “Queen Susan. I found her wandering about the woods.”  
Susan’s eyes were wide. “But there was no prophecy.”  
Now that Grace felt she was not in danger, weariness overtook her. Despite the intrigue of the conversation concerning her fate she found she could not concentrate. What time was it? It had to be at least four in the morning.  
“Let us discuss this with the others somewhere more private. Gim, take the girl to a spare bedroom please.”  
Grace was suddenly being guided further inside the castle and up a flight of stairs. When her cheek met the plush fabric of a pillow she fell deeply asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

“Miss Grace?”  
Grace’s eyes peeled open wide enough to see the legs of some sort of goat before her. Opening them wider, it seemed the goat legs had been attached to the torso of a human. Her scream bounced off the grand windows of the bedroom.  
“Oh, oh Miss Grace I did not mean to startle you!”   
Grace fumbled to a sitting position and looked from the silk sheets bunched in her hand to the faun by her bed. “It wasn’t a dream,” she whispered.  
“Miss we have provided you with proper clothing,” he glanced disdainfully at her pajamas, “and the family is expecting you at breakfast.”  
“Qu...Queen Susan?”  
He nodded so that his curls bounced playfully, “Yes. Queen Susan and her siblings. They are waiting to meet you properly.”  
Once the faun had gone, Grace put on the dress he had left. The skirt dragged on the ground as she traipsed the winding halls in search of the staircase she was vaguely aware she had walked up. She was not particularly worried about meeting the family. She was good at fitting into social situations but...this was a royal family...and she had wandered into their home half-delusional alongside a talking bear...  
“You must be Grace!”  
Grace pivoted and nearly tripped over her skirt. “Hi...”  
The girl (yes, it was a girl and not a bear or faun or any other creature exposed to mutation) was obviously young, probably about three years younger than her, but her waiflike figure was stretched so that her head stood a foot above her own.  
The girl grabbed Grace’s hands and began to prance her way through the castle, her captive in tow. Grace seemed to be prone to being dragged lately. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen another human! I can’t wait to see the look on Edmund’s face; he thought you weren’t real but Susan saw you and Susan is always the rational one so I never doubted and...”  
Grace stumbled to a halt beside her. A set of doors lay ajar to display a dining table filled with enough food to feed an army. The only people eating from the gargantuan plates were Susan and two boys. She somehow knew that she’d just been introduced to the rest of the royal family.  
Susan looked up from her knife and fork with surprise. Her prim straight posture slouched with exasperation. “Lucy,” she exclaimed, “did you drag her all the way downstairs?!”  
Lucy let go of Grace and sat down with a playful huff. “I led her here thank you very much. She looked lost and would never have found her way if I hadn’t...”  
The elder boy ran his fingers through his shaggy blond hair. “Honestly Lucy! Sometimes you still act like you’re eight years old!” He looked to be in his 20’s as well.  
Susan was the first to acknowledge Grace, who still stood in the doorway. She smiled, “You can sit and eat with us! You must be starving!” Shuffling to sit beside Susan, the only sane sibling it seemed, Grace sat. “I’m Susan and this is Lucy, and Peter,” she pointed to the blond who smiled, “and Edmund.” Edmund smirked between bites of toast, never bothering to look up at the girl whom he thought didn’t exist.   
“Where exactly am I,” Grace asked. Nausea rippled through her stomach as she shoved her plate away.  
“You’re American,” Lucy shouted as if she’d just discovered the moon. Edmund rolled his eyes so she quickly amended, “Sorry just pinned it down. You didn’t talk much before so...”  
“I’m from America but my family moved to Britain before the war. I was hiding in a bomb shelter when I suddenly came to be...wherever we are.”  
“Narnia,” Peter replied, “We came through a wardrobe. One second we’re all in the countryside and the next we’re here, just like you. Except for us there was a prophecy.”  
Susan expounded, “We were expected. We saved Narnia from the White Witch so they made us kings and queens. We were the only humans in hundreds of years to find this place. You’re the first since.”  
“Probably Aslan playing some sort of practical joke.”  
“Don’t be rude Edmund.”  
Grace ignored mention of whoever the White Witch and Aslan were. Her mind was already reeling but she felt that pinching herself would only draw attention. “I’m no hero. I read about people like Robin Hood but that doesn’t mean I want to be him!”  
“I don’t know...the tights look pretty comfortable,” Edmund quipped. They all ignored him.  
“That’s the thing,” Susan said, “We have no need of a hero. There’s been peace in Narnia under our rule for the past five years.”  
Peter set down his cup, “So either your being here is just coincidence or something bad is coming.”  
“But there was no prophecy.”  
Peter shrugged, “We don’t exactly have a rule book for these things.”  
“While she’s here,” Lucy began, a mischievous grin beginning to form on her jelly coated lips, “can we at least celebrate?”  
“Celebrate?”  
“We haven’t had a good party in ages!”  
Grace wasn’t sure if it was just her, but the conversation seemed to have taken a sharp turn.  
“We don’t want to overwhelm you Grace,” Susan looked at her with concern, “Waking up in a magical realm would take its toll on anyone. I still sometimes think I’m dreaming.”  
Grace nodded and hesitantly grabbed a muffin. Her stomach had started to growl and such bodily sounds seemed rude in front of kings and queens. “What...kind...of celebration?”  
As if now given permission, Lucy started spouting off ideas. “We could invite the whole kingdom and the fauns could play music and the birds always know where to find the sweetest berries...!”  
Peter chuckled, “This is what happens when you let a thirteen year old plan a party with the funds of a kingdom!”  
Lucy went off to carry out her grand plans and Edmund excused himself from the table. Grace finished her muffin as Susan and Peter debated the best course of action until the truth of why she was there came to light.  
“I’m going to go...explore,” Grace decided out loud. She left the dining hall and tried to ignore all the possibly bad reasons for her presence that kept running through her mind. It seemed that when humans were granted access to Narnia it was never a mistake.  
Her silk flats were surprisingly well suited for walking, she found out as she picked out paths around the gardens. She only hit her heel on a rock once, when she happened upon a girl made completely of petals who had been floating through the rose bushes. Here was magic come to life and yet Grace was still just the girl who read books to block out the sound of destruction. She thought of her father, still off fighting the war, and felt guilty for being granted an adventure while he dodged bombs and bullets.   
“Lost again?”  
Grace stopped in her tracks and spied King Edmund sitting beneath a tree. His sprawled legs propped up a novel.  
“I was just...why are you smirking? Is my face funny to you?” Grace’s temper flared at his unprovoked rudeness.  
“Maybe my face just naturally smirks.”  
Looking about and realizing she had nowhere to be and no one to talk to prompted her to go against her better judgement and join him under the tree. The cold earth sunk into her expensive garb and she wished she could have her regular clothes back. She felt slightly ridiculous. “I didn’t pin you for the reading type.”  
Edmund’s dark hair brushed against the tree bark. “I’m not.”  
Grace’s stubbornness began to kick in so she sat in silence until he finally said, “I’m reading a history book.”  
“Narnia’s history?”  
“No,” he sighed, “it’s European history. For some reason it was the only book our library had about home. Some bloke must have left it here a long time ago.”  
“Let me get this straight...you’re royalty in a magical kingdom yet you spend your time reading about the same wars they taught us in school?”  
“So what? I like history.”  
“I like history too...but still...”  
“Haha. Yes, take your time soaking up the irony!”  
Grace glanced at him. The shade of the tree made his brown eyes darker. “I wasn’t making fun of you.”  
“Whatever.” He stood and brushed off his legs before heading in the opposite direction.  
Grace pulled her knees to her chest, perplexed.  
. . .  
Lucy had asked Grace to come up to her room to get a dress fitted for that night. As exhausting as Lucy’s constant occupation with the party was, Grace was secretly relieved. She had been in Narnia for several days now with nothing to do. Lucy was planning, Peter and Susan were still scouring their resources for any mention of another prophecy, and Edmund was never anywhere to be found.  
“How do you like the color?”  
Grace admired the satin green sundress before turning to the minotaur. Apparently minotaurs were known in Narnia for their seamstress skills. “I love it.”  
“I thought the emerald would go well with your blue eyes,” Lucy smiled. Despite the fact that she had seen a war and become a queen all before the age of nine, Lucy always seemed to have a naïve glow about her. Grace had grown fond of her perpetual cheer in between bouts of childlike sulks.  
“You really didn’t have to do all this.”  
Lucy shook her head. “We never do anything fun around here. And it’ll be good for you to see Narnian culture!”  
Grace frowned. “I’m not going to stay here much longer.”  
“We didn’t expect you to,” Lucy played with the dress sleeves in order to hide her disappointment.   
“I’ll miss you all.” The minotaur instructed her to raise her arms so she could adjust. Grace squirmed as the seamstress’ horns came awfully close to her face. “Okay, maybe I won’t miss Edmund.”  
“Oh Edmund isn’t all that bad. He’s just gotten moody the past few years. I blame puberty.”  
“So he wasn’t always so sarcastic?”  
Lucy’s eyes travelled upwards in thought, “Well...he’s always been a bit of a sour puss I guess but lately he just wanders off for hours at a time. He didn’t use to do that… He cares though. I know he does. In that big war he got stabbed trying to defend Peter from the White Witch.”  
Grace pictured Edmund’s dark eyes filled with shock and pain as a sword pierced him. She shivered. “Do you ever miss home? Mundane life?”  
“I miss my mom and dad but… no. As soon as I came to Narnia I knew I had found someplace special. I love adventures.”  
“Done!” The minotaur cleared her things and left Grace to gaze at her reflection in the mirror. The green satin with gold edging really did suit her.  
“The party starts at sundown,” Lucy said on her way out, “You might want to get some rest before the festivities begin. I have so many people I want you to meet!”  
Shimmying out of the dress, Grace put on her pajamas and smelled the dankness of the shelter on her skin. She took Lucy’s advice and lay down in bed, but not before stealing another look in the mirror. As much as she loved reading about adventure, she knew she was no queen like Lucy. She missed home.


	4. Chapter 4

Grace had never attended a real party before. She had been young in America and had only ever been to juvenile birthday bashes. Once in Britain the war had begun and she was hastily herded into a bomb shelter. Dancing fauns and drinking out of a cup made of tree bark wasn’t exactly what she had had in mind.   
Lucy had insisted on a traditional Narnian celebration so the royal silver and draperies were left behind in the castle as partygoers flooded into the wood. The moon shining on the lake provided lighting along with a roaring bonfire around which everyone danced.  
Grace seated herself on a stump on the outskirts of the party, fingers stroking the emerald silk of her dress. Lucy spotted her soon enough and smiled jovially. “It’s just like the one we had after defeating the White Witch! Don’t you love it?!”  
Grace took a moment to listen to the music pouring out of the fauns’ lutes and nodded. “It’s just that I don’t really know anyone here.”  
Lucy’s eyes scanned the scene. “I’m sure we can find you a dance partner…oooh there’s Edmund!”  
“Oh you don’t have to…”  
“Edmund!” Lucy tugged Grace over to where Edmund was reading. Grace watched the light of the fire dance on his face and felt tempted to once again ask what he was reading. Instead, she tore her gaze away to plead Lucy to let the matter go. She was dutifully ignored. “Edmund,” Lucy went on, “why don’t you stop being so sullen and invite our guest to go dance?”  
Edmund’s eyes flickered up to the slowly reddening Grace and his lips turned downwards in a small frown, “I am not being…”  
“Why are you all just standing about?” Peter’s face was flushed. Grace had been surprised by how quickly he had lost his kingly composure and danced with the others.  
Lucy jumped in before her brother could, “Ed was just about to ask Grace to dance!”  
Peter slapped him on the back. “About time you stopped being such a bump on a log!”  
“I wasn’t…”  
Lucy let go of Grace in order to force Edmund up, “Have fun!”  
By the time Lucy and Peter had left Grace wished she was a puddle. She couldn’t decipher the king’s expression in the dark but she could guess he was probably angry. “If we don’t dance they’ll just come back,” he said.   
This was not the response she was expecting. Hiding the embarrassment written on her face with a curtain of blond hair, she followed him.  
As soon as they reached the inner circle of the twirling bodies the music lulled. Suddenly everyone had noticed her, the human who had happened upon their land. They cheered her arrival as she tried to think of a mythical creature not present. Edmund took a step back, “Do you know how to dance a jig?”  
“Uh…I Irish dance?” Grace was hyperaware of the crowd’s eyes as she fulfilled their request and began to dance. Her dress was lighter than she had originally thought. Edmund’s eyes had a numbing effect as her feet hit the earth in time with the music. Soon everyone joined in and Edmund had taken both her hands in his own. His palms were warm.  
“Just lift your arms and try not to kick me,” he shouted over the pandemonium. “Now you know how to do a jig in Narnia!” Laughter bubbled inside her as she tried to match his clumsy movements. His lean frame towered over her and seemed to block out everything else. His eyes seemed to soften and she thought she detected a hint of a smile on his unforgiving lips.  
In no time at all the song had ended and Edmund was leaving. She gathered her skirt and followed him, pausing when he continued on deeper into the darkness of the wood. Looking down, Grace’s eyes found Edmund’s novel and read the title ‘A History of Modern Europe’ etched in gold lettering. She ran in the direction he had disappeared.  
Grace found Edmund leaning against a tree, just as she had a few days ago. They were a five minute walk away from the party.   
His body stiffened with alertness at the sound of her voice. “You miss your old life.” It was not a question.  
He turned to her, his face showing no malice, “What makes you say that?”  
“You’re the king at a party with dancing goat people and yet you elect to read a history book…”  
“Dancing goat people?”  
“…it’s okay, I miss it too.” When he did not respond she continued, “I always thought I’d love to live an adventure from the novels I’ve read. Now that I’m here I just miss my family.” He nodded. “I’ve decided I’m going to leave tonight, after the party. I think my being here was a mistake. All I’ve accomplished is stressing everyone out.”  
“I think…” Edmund stopped midsentence and dropped his eyes from her face.  
Grace quickly filled the silence, “I don’t feel much like dancing anymore…I’ll go say good bye.”  
After leaving Edmund with his tree, she hugged Lucy, Susan, and Peter then started back down the path that had led her into paradise. Bear caught up with her after a moment. “I hope you are not leaving because you are unhappy.”  
Grace smiled at his concern, “I think it would just be easier for me to go and undo the mistake of my presence.” The trees lining the path had begun to look familiar.  
Bear growled, “You were not a mistake.”  
“What place do I have here?”  
“While visiting the castle a few weeks ago I happened upon King Edmund…praying.”  
At the sound of Edmund’s name a lump formed in Grace’s throat.  
“He was asking Aslan why he couldn’t find contentment here in Narnia. He pleaded for a sign…The day you arrived I caught a glimpse of a lion among the trees.”  
Grace, having been made aware of Aslan’s importance, felt the significance of Bear’s disclosure. “Thank you.”  
Halting a moment, Bear wrapped his paws around her as a farewell. She suddenly felt the truth behind the phrase ‘bear hug’.  
It was only once Grace had travelled to the edge of where she knew the bomb shelter to be that she was once again approached.   
“I…never said good bye.” Edmund’s eyes were downcast. Grace noticed the freckles on is face for the first time and thought they gave him innocence. “Good bye,” she said.  
“I think I may return to England someday soon. If I do I will say…hello…”  
Grace began to search for the familiar metal door once they had shaken hands and he had begun to leave once more. Her heart was filled with conflicting emotions.  
“Wait!” Before she knew what was happening Grace felt herself swung around, Edmund’s lips clinging to her own. She could feel his heart beating beneath his chest. Looking into her blue eyes he said, “I promise to find you again.” A smile perched on his lips without a single flicker.  
. . .  
The door swung open, the scene of her mother on the floor and Sean on the bed joyfully mundane after her adventures. As soon as she shut the door, the distant sounds of war torn England resumed.   
Running her fingers over the open copy of ‘Robin Hood’ on the table and blowing out the still lit lamp, Grace draped her emerald dress on a chair. Slipping into a pair of pajamas and crawling into bed, she fell asleep to the sound of Sean’s breathing.  
It was if no time had passed at all.


End file.
